A Picture Of
by hexterah
Summary: An AU where Jacen and Tenel Ka never met and Tenel Ka meets a mysterious man one night at a banquet -- little does she know what he's capable of. One-poster/short story. Written: 02/13/2007


**Author's Note: **This story was inspired by a song by Kate Bush, who has always been one of my favorite musicians (and lyricists). This is a total AU from everything -- or _almost_ everything. XD It's a story about Jacen and Tenel Ka dancing together for the first time -- except, they had never met in person before this point. It takes place during the beginning of Jacen's descent, around the _Dark Nest Trilogy_ and the _Legacy of the Force_ series. So obviously, Tenel Ka has two arms, there is no Allana (D:) and there were no previous feelings for each other or interaction with each other. Of course, if all this happened -- the events would've probably gone differently for Jacen and TK and so on... but we're just gonna flow with it. Hehe. Since they are both popular figures in the galaxy, they do know _of_ each other. But existence is about the only thing they know about each other. Looks, personality -- most of that stuff is unknown between the two. Written: 02/13/2007.

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**A Picture Of**

_They say that the devil is a charming man. Just like you, I bet he could dance._

**KUAT; evening, the Grand Hall**

He looked familiar. He looked _very_ familiar, but the Queen Mother of Hapes couldn't place her finger on why if her life depended on it.

She was staring at him from across the chamber, her gray eyes narrowed in concentration and a flute of wine nestled in her hands. She knew he was a Jedi, she knew he was part of the Galactic Alliance. She figured she had probably seen his image in the news or something -- but aside from the meetings and talks she had with the higher ranking Galactic Alliance officials, she didn't pay much attention to them. And even though she had the Force herself, she had never trained to become a Jedi, even though she had been invited. So she was a tad oblivious to their happenings as well.

Paying attention to those sorts of things, she knew, would definitely benefit her -- especially in cases like this. But she never had the time. She was always focused on her people and her job on Hapes. It was hard enough running the Consortium; but keeping all of her insane family members from trying to take it over was just icing on the pyollian cake.

Her eyes came back into focus once she jumped back to the matter at hand, which was watching this man. She had already made her way around the hall, stopping to talk to dignitaries and the like, most of who were now out on the dance floor with partners, sweeping around to the band at the front. She was back at the table she was assigned to for dinner, sitting in the oversized chair. The table was empty now, except for her; its occupants were also out dancing.

He was chatting to a couple of Ithorians, his eyes lighting up and widening at some of their words, while his head of shaggy brown hair bobbed up and down in agreement with whatever they spoke of. He was dressed in what looked to be a mix of the Galactic Alliance dress uniform and a Jedi's formal robes. It worked, although, self-admittedly, Tenel Ka was never really one to know the ins and outs of fashion.

Once the Ithorians shook hands with the man, they moved away from him, leaving him leaning against a side table near the wall. As his eyes scanned the hall, they met with hers and she quickly broke the link, moving her gaze to the dance floor. She was never one to draw attention to herself, and sitting there glaring in a trance-like state at a man across the room probably was a good way to do just that. She could still feel his stare, which didn't get to her too much -- but when she saw him move out of the corner of her eyes and start to get closer to her, she tensed up.

She stood casually, from her seat, trying to look as calm as possible; her mind reeling around sudden ways to escape this confrontation. Usually she never minded things of the sort, but the look in the man's eyes that she caught for the moments their gazes were joined; it unsettled her slightly.

He stopped in front of her, his left hand in his pocket and his right setting a glass down on the table beside him. He bowed gently, which calmed her the smallest bit. "Your Majesty." He pulled a coin out, a coin Tenel Ka hadn't seen in years. It was a credit coin, the two different sides glinting in the dim light as he turned it over in his hand. "Heads -- we're dancing."

And with that, he threw it into the air and caught it, flipping it over onto the back of his opposite hand.

Heads.

"Aren't you the bold one?" She stated flatly more than asked.

"Not usually. But you looked bored. And I _am_ bored."

"These things usually make you that way," Tenel Ka said, finishing off her last sip of wine.

A lopsided grin crossed his face at that point, causing her to freeze up for a second. He took that moment to reach out to her, palm upwards. The feeling quickly passed as she got her composure back and turned her attention to her guards that were watching from the wall. She nodded to them, to let them know everything was alright and she would comm them if needed -- and peering back to him, she slipped her hand in his.

Seconds later he was gently pulling her along behind him, dodging people and tables and servants alike, both of her gloved hands clasped around his as they moved.

Once they got into the heart of the crowd, he spun around and pulled her to him, his eyes drinking in the sight of her as they began to move with the music. Her hair was in copper waves that crashed down her back, a silver halo topped it off, and the little green gems that sparkled along the edges of it matched her dress. He knew that the dress was made of the finest shimmersilk just by looking at it and by the way his right hand slid over it as it ran down her back.

They stepped through the crowd, their feet drifting along the floor as they turned and spun to the music. His left hand, which was clutched around her right and out to the side, guided them between other couples as his eyes stayed locked on hers. She could feel her face growing the slightest bit red -- something that seemed foreign to her -- but she didn't know how to stop it and she knew looking away would be rude.

But she couldn't help it, her eyes tore away from his and she peered to others on the floor as they danced, looking to her left or back across his neck and over his shoulder. He knew she was feeling uncomfortable, he could sense it. He let his right hand trail down to rest on her hip, and pressed his fingers against her, the shimmersilk providing a horrible barrier between his fingertips and her skin.

She arched her back slightly, surprised at his touch and how warm and welcoming he felt. She wasn't trained in the Force, but she could feel him prodding her through it, telling her to open up a little.

"You don't smile much, do you?" His voice was soft.

"I do when I have a reason to."

"Maybe a joke will make you smile." He spun her around and moved through the crowd, guiding her, unnoticed by the dancing mass, back out of the main chamber and up a ramp to the second level, both of them dancing like they were still on the floor. The second level of the hall overlooked the first and as they moved up to it, Tenel Ka noticed absently that none of the other banquet guests seemed to have discovered its existence yet.

"A joke?"

"Yeah. Like..." As he hesitated with his words, he stopped and raised her left hand above them with his right, spinning her around under it. After she turned, she stopped, facing him and he took her hands and placed them on his shoulders, putting his own hands up on her wrists. "Which side of an Ewok has the most fur?"

"I don't know."

"The outside," he said, that half-grin seizing his lips again.

Tenel Ka faked a chuckle, a bit at how silly and childish the joke seemed to be -- but more at how excited he looked when he was telling it. She figured that this is what this man was like when he was younger.

"I know, I know. It's horrible." He took his hands from her arms and waved them apologetically in front of him before moving them to her waist, where he let them rest. Without even realizing it, they started moving to the music again, which could still be heard, drifting up from the banquet hall below.

They moved down the empty corridor, the tall windows looming over them, the curtains drawn back. Moonlight crashed through them, bathing the two in a pale purple light as they passed. She kept her eyes on him at this point, her gaze having nowhere to escape to and when she watched him open his mouth to say something, then shut it again, she began to slow her feet down.

As they came to a stop in front of one of the windows, Tenel Ka realized how close they had moved to one another. Her cheek was now pressed to his, their faces warm against each others. She finally asked something that had been weighing heavily on her mind since he approached her with that coin.

"Who are you?"

"Nobody important," he whispered in her ear, still gently swaying back and forth to the faint tune.

"I know you're a Jedi," she started, her voice growing as quiet as his. "And I know you are part of the Galactic --"

He cut her off, leaning back and shaking his head as he responded, their eyes joining again. "Nobody important. I promise."

"You can't make a promise to me. That only works with people you trust, and I don't trust people I don't know."

He delivered that lopsided grin to her again.

Her hands were planted on his chest, the slik-covered fingers threatening to curl up over his shoulders. He bristled under her touch as they continued to sway slightly, back and forth. They weren't even moving to the music anymore, which neither of them noticed as he tightened his fingers on her waist and slid his hands around to join at the small of her back.

"Why are you doing this?" She whispered, surprised at herself by how calm she remained.

The lavender shade of the moon brightened his face, sneaking into every crease of his skin and giving his features a sudden boyish charm. His lips pursed and upturned slightly with his response. "You caught my attention."

"Oh?"

He nodded, leaning close to her again. "And I thank you for that." His words came out in a hot burst of air against her cheek and after he finished speaking, he planted an innocent kiss on the corner of her lips. "You reminded me that there are still people in this galaxy worth fighting for."

She opened her mouth to say something when he shifted his head and his lips cut her off, his hands running up her back. It was a fairly heated kiss, slow and intimate; and for some reason she found herself returning it, a kiss to this man she had met minutes before. His hands moved up to her neck and up to her face, his palms cupping her cheeks.

He was gentle, but there was something overpowering about that kiss. It left Tenel Ka standing there afterwards, biting her bottom lip, the warmth of his touch suddenly gone as he backed away from her.

"I must be on my way, Your Majesty."

"Am I ever going to learn your name?"

He reached out and placed his finger to her lips, which she pursed under his touch, and that lopsided grin crossed his face once more. Moments later, he turned and jogged off down the hallway, towards the back staircase of the hall, the moonlight from every window he passed flashing over him like the lightning on Kamino.

With a sigh, the Queen Mother gave a quick glance out the window before turning and pacing back towards the festivities below.

**HAPES; morning, three weeks later, the Fountain Palace**

He had been on her mind every day since that night; the way he smiled, the way he whispered in her ear, the way his lips felt on hers, the way his cloak moved in the moonlight as he ran away. He had never answered her last question and she had slowly, with every passing day, been trying to let go of it. She had no time for childish romantic notions, she had a Consortium to run and keeping that man on her mind, expecting him to come back and sweep her off her feet was just another stupid --

_"Jacen Solo, the high-ranking General of the Galactic Alliance has gone into hiding after a banquet on Kuat a few weeks ago, the rumors of him being a Sith Lord still hanging overhead -- except more strongly now, thanks to a recent turn of events concerning the man and his actions..."_

Quickly turning her attention to the story on the holoscreen in her office, her eyes darted straight to the holoimage accompanying it. The man. It was the same one she had danced with weeks before, clad in a Galactic Alliance uniform, chin held high, just a tinge of a grin across his face. It was a stock holoimage, he looked a little younger in it. But those eyes still held that same spark of mischief that thinly veiled the hollow ghosts of all he had been through. She had been drawn into those brandy depths while she danced with him, trying to sort him out just by staring into them -- childishly wishing she could drown in them for the rest of her life.

_It couldn't be him... Jacen Solo. No..._

She had known the name, she had seen the man. But she hadn't put the two together.

_"Nobody important."_

Jacen Solo.

There was the answer to her question.


End file.
